Stimulations: Striking new roots

Aussie blues 'n' roots musos have often found favour with North Americans. Slogging it out on the festival circuit, some have enjoyed greater acclaim overseas than on their home shores. The latest success story is the multi-instrumentalist and enviro-trooper Xavier Rudd.

He performed at the Bonnaroo Festival in Tennessee last week and his third album, White Moth, was the highest selling album at the festival, where the line-up included Tool, the White Stripes, Ben Harper and the Police.

Rudd went on to perform at the El Rey theatre in Los Angeles, and Alanis Morissette and Matthew McConaughey were in the audience. Rumour has it McConaughey, now working alongside the Aussie actor Nathan Phillips on Surfer Dude, was so impressed that he asked Rudd to compose the music for his next film.

Fellow folkies the Waifs know all about overseas acclaim. While mainstream success eluded them in Australia for many years, now they're so hot, they have to announce their gigs in secret.

Their new album, Sun Dirt Water, will be released on September 1, but on July 12 they will be live and intimate at the Factory Theatre.

Only members of the Waifs online community are in the know but tickets go on sale to the public today at 9am through Moshtix.